Sánchez commits to the CUP to "resolve" Spain's radio infrastructure model

The Minister of Finance dislikes using the budget execution to "air the independence flag"

MADRID, 8 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has promised this Wednesday to "resolve" the radio infrastructure model of Spain, in the face of complaints from the independentists about the low budget execution in Catalonia.

"I share (that there is) that radial infrastructure that we actually have to solve," said Sánchez, who has pointed to the railway infrastructure --unfinished-- of the Mediterranean Corridor as a measure to tackle the prevalence of this model.

Questioned by the deputy of the Mixed Parliamentary Group Mireia Vehí Cantenys --of the CUP-- during the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies, the president has defended that the low budget execution in Catalonia has been due to the "break" that the imposed confinement meant due to the COVID-10 pandemic in 2020 and "bottleneck issues" in 2021, which led to a shortage in the supply of materials.

However, he has insisted that, in the first quarter of 2022, the level of budget execution in Catalonia has already increased by 68 percent and has maintained that the Government's commitment to the Autonomous Community and its citizens is "total and resounding".

Vehí has ​​criticized the level of budgetary execution in Catalonia and has contrasted it with that of the Community of Madrid - 180 percent compared to just over 35 percent -, for which the "comparative grievance" has made the Executive ugly and that "feeds a State model in which Madrid is at the center" and is "a vacuum cleaner of constant resources".

For her part, the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, has transferred to the Esquerra Republicana deputy Inés Granollers that the Government "is committed" to Catalonia, in the face of a similar question from the member of the Republican Parliamentary Group of Congress .

Sánchez has highlighted that when the PSOE acceded to the Government in 2018 there was "precariousness" and "lack of investment" in the Autonomous Community, while stressing that "the first thing" was "to reactivate the communication channels".

"We have been increasing these forecasts year after year, we have executed investments and actions that were paralyzed like never before," he explained, exemplifying that the Government has already executed 67 percent more than in the past budgets of the PP.

Granollers has asked the Government to transfer powers and resources to Catalonia and has warned them that being pro-independence is "the only solution" to guarantee "decent services" to Catalan citizens.

On the other hand, the Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, has made Junts per Catalunya ugly by using the budget execution "to air the independence flag". In addition, she has reproached the formation for "preferring" the "frozen" investments of Mariano Rajoy's mandate.

The deputy of Junts Míriam Nogueras, who has also drawn a parallel between what was invested in Catalonia and Madrid, asked Montero about the Government's measures to execute the entire General State Budget for 2021 in Catalonia, in line with the previously stated questions. Nogueras has assured that the Government "has never moved from where Rajoy was: without money and dialogue for Catalonia".